She answered crisply, “Yes. What do you want? Don’t even think about asking me to let them go.”
Jun Qian, of course, didn’t have any unrealistic expectations. No Builder could resist the lure of a teamwipe—he just wanted to earn a few points: “Five hundred points will do.”
Five hundred points wasn’t much, but even a little was something.
Five hundred points—Su Shisan agreed immediately: “Deal.”
Each player death in a C-level Copy earned 400 points. With 24 players, that was 9,600. If they all wiped, points would double. For the sake of a perfect Copy, a mere 500 points was nothing to her.
Seeing her agree, Jun Qian didn’t reveal his location right away. He wasn’t stupid—if he told her now, he’d just get hunted again.
Might as well rest first: “Love a straightforward boss. I’ll tell you when I come out.”
In the Park Director’s office, Fu Mingxu looked dejected. “Sorry, boss. I couldn’t catch him.”
“It’s fine—not your fault.”
Su Shisan waved it off.
Not catching him was expected. A C-level Copy trying to trap an S-rank NPC or player was a pipe dream. Even her strongest in-Copy Clown couldn’t match his combat power.
If they could catch him, that’d be the real miracle.
Besides, even though they didn’t catch him, she’d discovered some loopholes in the amusement park, so it was still worth it in her eyes.
Of course, Su Shisan was so calm mainly because she’d prepared a backup plan. The moment she saw Jun Qian, she knew it’d be hard for her Copy to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.
After all, their levels were worlds apart. No matter how intricate her design, it couldn’t stop him. But if the Copy couldn’t trap an S-rank NPC, couldn’t she just ban him outright?
She wanted to see if, without Jun Qian’s help, those two players could get out alive.
When there’s no interference, a human’s San Value slowly recovers—especially during sleep or unconsciousness, when it recovers faster.
As the sun rose and it neared seven o’clock, the two players finally began to wake up.
[Heart of Durian], waking up, rubbed her eyes. “Mmm… Where are we?”
“At the entrance of the amusement park.” Jun Qian squatted next to her.
Since the park had opened, the Park Director couldn’t go after visitors openly anymore. So now they were safe, free to linger at the entrance.
Upon hearing this, [Heart of Durian] immediately looked up and saw the amusement park gate not far away. [Cheng Yu (Modern)] also woke up, asking in confusion, “Why did you help us?”
“Someone asked me to.”
Jun Qian stood up and pulled two Punch Card Tickets from his pocket. “Use these to get out.”
“Why? And don’t tickets disappear when a player dies? Where did you get two?” They’d wanted to ask who had hired him, but upon seeing the tickets, a new question arose.
Su Shisan, watching the monitors, was curious as well. Where had this guy gotten the tickets? Or when did he take the tickets from the two guys with slicked-back hair?
And how did he know these two would survive till the end?
But Jun Qian didn’t answer. He just handed the tickets over, smiling as he raised a finger: “Those fake tickets in your hands won’t get you out.”
No one doubted him. [Heart of Durian] and [Cheng Yu (Modern)] knew full well they were only alive thanks to him. Whether he was telling the truth or not, they had no choice but to trust him.
After giving them the tickets, Jun Qian had to leave. As a Red-Clothed Employee, he had his own rules to follow. If he didn’t, he’d die immediately.
Unlike players, employees had far stricter rules, and the fatal ones weren’t even limited in number—break one and you’re dead.
So whether he left or stayed made no difference—he couldn’t help his employer anymore.
Before leaving, Jun Qian added, “Be careful with the bus back. The Copy might send a fake one first.”
Even he, unable to join the team, couldn’t predict every danger. Getting these two, who should’ve died, this far was his limit. The rest was up to them.
“Don’t worry.”
[Cheng Yu (Modern)] patted his chest confidently. “We’re not pushovers either.”
Truthfully, Jun Qian wasn’t very reassured—not because he doubted the two players, but because he trusted Su Shisan’s ability as a Copy designer.
In this Copy, her skills were on full display—not just in designing the challenges, but in the intricacy of the world-building.
Having played as a regular visitor, Blue Uniform Employee, and Red-Clothed Employee, he knew very well that Su Shisan hadn’t just set rules for players, but also for native NPCs, and even for Blue, Red, and Black-clothed Employees.
It sounded like overkill—a lot of work for something that only affected players with the ability to become NPCs. But in Jun Qian’s eyes, expressing a complete worldview was a must for an S-rank Builder.
A Builder with the potential to become S-rank—if they knew someone was planning something, how could they not make preparations?
Of course that was impossible.
But aside from the seemingly mandatory “chase” segment, he hadn’t encountered any obstacles.
And that chase, to Jun Qian, was nothing—the Clown wasn’t nearly as strong as A-Class Scenario players, and Su Shisan had worked with him before. She knew his strength.
So she essentially hadn’t targeted him at all.
Jun Qian didn’t believe Su Shisan would be careless enough to think he couldn’t do anything or protect anyone.
So unless something unexpected happened, the crisis for the final survivors would definitely be outside the amusement park—somewhere he couldn’t reach.
That was truly out of his hands. The process of a Blue Uniform Employee becoming a Red-Clothed Employee was irreversible.
Once you became Red, you couldn’t leave the park. But if he didn’t change, he couldn’t enter the Ghost House.
Now all he could do was hope the two players were smart enough not to fall for the Builder’s tricks.
As far as Jun Qian knew, the Builder who hired him had given his charges quite a few Props—hopefully, some would come in handy.
When the time was right, [Heart of Durian] and [Cheng Yu (Modern)] handed over their tickets, passed the amusement park’s gate check, and left the park.
They’d made it.
Outside the amusement park, both couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. They’d honestly feared something would go wrong with the tickets and they’d fall right at dawn.
Now there was just one step left—if they could get on the bus, they’d be free of this nightmare Copy!
“This is great, it’s finally over.” [Heart of Durian] couldn’t help but sigh. “If someone hadn’t helped us, there’s no way we’d have made it.”
[Cheng Yu (Modern)] nodded in agreement, then asked, puzzled, “So who hired him to help us? Do you know him?”
“No, I don’t have any super-strong player friends.” [Heart of Durian] shook her head. She knew her own social circle—there was no way she knew any bigshots.
Seeing her so certain, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] stroked his chin. “Maybe he was just hired to study this Copy, and we, as the last survivors, happened to get his protection.”
[Heart of Durian] wasn’t convinced. “Then why didn’t the other two players survive?”
“Because we were enough.” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] said matter-of-factly. “One or two successful clears is all you need as a sample.”
“Fine, that does make sen…” She trailed off as her eyes lit up, pointing at two buses approaching in the distance. “The buses are here!”
But then her expression changed—why were there two buses?
Soon, both buses pulled up in front of them.
One bus had the familiar license plate and driver—it was clearly the one they’d arrived in. Normally, they should pick this one.
But just then, the long-absent tour guide suddenly appeared and boarded the other, unfamiliar bus, waving and smiling at them. “Come on, this is the company’s bus to take you home.”
The two of them were dumbfounded. One was the familiar bus, the other the tour guide’s pick—both had their reasons to be trusted. So which should they choose?
Remembering Jun Qian’s warning, they had to admit his concern was justified. The Copy had indeed messed with the buses, forcing them into a two-way choice.
So the question was—which one?
Guessing was pointless. [Cheng Yu (Modern)] playfully asked, “Tour guide, why isn’t our return bus the same as before?”
“Because that one only brings people here—it doesn’t take them back.” He Feixian answered calmly.
Beside her, [Heart of Durian] pressed, “Then why did that bus come over empty?”
As expected of the boss—He Feixian had predicted their questions. She smiled mysteriously, “How do you know it’s empty?”
At her words, their faces changed. They couldn’t see inside the bus, but if the guide said so, maybe there really was something in there. The Ghost House had plenty of things that weren’t human, after all.
If that bus was full of ghosts, they’d be dead the moment they got on.
With time ticking toward 7:30, the two exchanged glances and finally made their decision. “We’ll take your bus.”
The guide had never tricked them—she hadn’t helped much, but at least she hadn’t lied. Compared to the “right” looking bus, they’d rather trust the guide.
Once they boarded, the doors snapped shut, and the bus sped off.
But before long, [Heart of Durian] and [Cheng Yu (Modern)] suddenly found themselves, hand in hand, back at the amusement park entrance.
[Cheng Yu (Modern)] wore a smug grin. “Surprised? Didn’t expect me to have a Prop, did you? I knew there was something wrong with that bus. Come on, let’s get on the other one!”
“What kind of Prop is that?” [Heart of Durian] asked in amazement. “How did it bring us back?”
While on the bus, prompted by [Cheng Yu (Modern)]’s hint, [Heart of Durian] had played along, probing the guide for information to see if they’d made the right choice.
Because they were already on the bus and the doors were locked, the tour guide, thinking they couldn’t get off, let her guard down and easily admitted that this bus was fake—it didn’t go to their original company, but to the tour guide’s own agency.
They had chosen wrong.
Just as [Heart of Durian] was about to despair, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] grabbed her hand and produced an hourglass.
He flipped it over, and a blinding light flashed. When they opened their eyes again, they were back at the amusement park entrance.
“A fixed-point rewind Prop—it lets us return to a previous location we’ve visited.”
He led her to the other bus.
The driver calmly closed the doors, stepped on the gas, and drove the two as the only passengers, their faces full of terror, slowly into the amusement park.
This was the wrong choice too.
Five minutes later, at 7:30, a third bus arrived, fashionably late. The driver took a quick look around, unsurprised, and turned the wheel with a snort. “Knew it, nobody here. Another wasted trip.”
As the only bus that could actually let players clear the Copy drove away, the System’s notification sounded as expected:
“Ding! Congratulations to the Builder for completing the C-level Copy, and for achieving ‘Continuous Annihilation [4]’ and ‘High-dimensional Perspective’ achievements. Congratulations, Builder! You’re amazing!”